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Tuesday, January 6, 2009

A little nuts

We had a very friendly backyard squirrel, Sammy the Squirrel, and I'll gladly admit it, I loved this squirrel. For the last few years, he would run out to greet us, do back flips, the happy dance, eat so cute with his paws, and bury food all over the yard. When his tummy was full with his preferred pecans or hazelnuts, he'd sprawl out on the tree limb with that thank-you-so-much happy look on his furry face and take a content nap.

Then one day, without even a 'goodbye', Sammy was gone. No note. No aloha wave. Just gone. Either he packed it up for greener lawns, died of old age, got attacked by a dog, or got hit by a car. I've thought about all of these things for this last six months or so and mourned the loss. And, yes, I have a life!

So, to my surprise and sheer delight, none other than Sammy greeted me when I got home from school this morning. I have no doubt it's him. He literally danced around and in between my legs and eagerly ran to the familiar feeding spot ready for a treat. Being the total geek that I am, I screamed "Welcome back Sammy!!!!!", ran in the house, got a handful of raw pecans, and happily placed them on the bricks. He was hungry and grateful. I was more than thrilled about the return of my little friend and it totally made my day. I'll never know about his adventures in the far away yards and frankly, I don't care. I'm just happy that he's home. Sometimes it's all about the little things, you know?